The Pandemic is a Portal
Celebrated author and activist Arundhati Roy discusses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on India and the broader global community as the event picked up in April 2020.
“What is this thing that has happened to us? It’s a virus, yes. In and of itself it holds no moral brief. But it is definitely more than a virus. Some believe it’s God’s way of bringing us to our senses. Others that it’s a Chinese conspiracy to take over the world. Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could.
Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to “normality”, trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.”
Essay excerpt (published on the Financial Times, 3 April 2020)
Read the full essay here (Financial Times)
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The video above is a long discussion and critical response with the author and Imani Perry, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, hosted by Haymarket Books. Watch the video on the website here.
